INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) announced its 2025-26 women's basketball all-conference selections on March 4. Drury had three players earn honors.
 
Lady Panthers junior forward Sara Mendel was named to the first team and all-defensive team. Mendel averaged 15.9 points and 10.1 rebounds during the regular season. She shot 67.9 percent from the field during the season, leading NCAA Division II. Mendel finished the regular season leading the Midwest region in double-doubles with 19, a Lady Panther single-season record. On the defensive end, Mendel blocked one shot per game on average and grabbed 6.9 defensive rebounds per game. She was the league's player of the week three times this season. The honors are Mendel's first career.
 
Rhi Gibbons was voted to the first team for the second consecutive season. The senior guard from Nixa averaged 14.2 points a game this season and recorded 5.3 rebounds a game. Gibbons also led the Lady Panthers with 1.3 steals per game in the regular season. She scored double figures in every game this season but one, the Southwest Baptist game on Feb. 19, in which she only scored seven points in a shortened game that saw her leave with a cut to the forehead. She had scored at least ten in 28 straight games, the third-longest streak in Drury history.
 
Drury's starting point guard, Kaylee King, was voted to the second team for her first career all-conference honor. King averaged 10.8 points per game this season, including a 20-point performance against Southwest Baptist, followed by a 27-point game against, at the time, No. 20 Missouri-St. Louis. King has been nearly automatic from the free-throw line this season, 36-for-37. Her lone miss came in that same Feb. 19 Southwest Baptist game, ending her streak of 34 consecutive makes from the free throw line. King finished 12th in the GLVC in assists per game with 2.5.
 
The Lady Panthers finished the regular season with a 20-7 record and earned the third seed in the GLVC Tournament. Drury plays their quarterfinal game on Friday in St. Louis against seventh-seeded Truman State at 2:15 pm.
 
FOLLOW THE LADY PANTHERS
For all the latest information on Drury athletics, please visit drurypanthers.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Panthers on Instagram, X, and Facebook